The present invention relates to flexible bag dispensing/holding systems which can be used to pack a number of small items such as food items. The present invention is particularly directed to an automatic dispensing and loading system wherein the effort required of the packer is minimized.
Traditionally, merchandise, such as groceries, has been packaged at the check-out counters by the packer retrieving a bag from a stack, opening the bag usually by a quick motion of the arm which causes air to enter the bag and distend it and positioning and loading the bag upright on the counter. After the items are placed in the bag, it must be somewhat carefully transferred to the customer in a motion which permits the customer to put their arms around the bag at mid- to lower-bag position.
In recent years, merchants have made efforts to overcome the tedious procedure described above by packaging items in plastic bags. However, these plastic bags are limp and, thus, create problems in both loading and carrying.
The plastic industry has attempted to overcome these deficiencies by, first of all, providing handles on plastic bags adjacent to the mouth of the bag. This has helped to alleviate the carrying problem, but the loading operation is still a problem since flexible plastic bags do not provide a structured receptacle for insertion of the items to be loaded.
Elaborate devices have been used to open and support empty bags, such as blowers which fill the bag with air and vacuum systems which hold the walls of the bag apart and upright, but these systems can be expensive, require substantial redesign and modifications of check-out counters and are subject to mechanical breakdown in heavy use.
Although semi-rigid plastic films, such as vinyl, high density polyethylene and high modulus laminar structures formed therefrom, are available and could be used to construct bags which are self-supporting, the cost of such material is far in excess of acceptable bag production commodities and is, therefore, an economically unattractive solution.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,298 to Lieberman discloses a wicket bag dispensing unit which includes a vertical wall having a gate formed therethrough and bag opening and expanding means attached to the front of the wall. A stack of bags are secured to the back of the vertical wall with the front side of the first bag abutting the back side of the vertical wall. The Lieberman unit requires that each bag be provided with a lip extending transversely across the width of the bag which is formed by folding down the front side of each bag and heat sealing either end of the fold to the front side of the bag. Lieberman provides hook arms as opening and expanding means, having penetrable ends which would easily disrupt the structural integrity of the side of the bag under even rather mild load conditions. Furthermore, the wicket mounting scheme of Lieberman causes the front side of each of the bags to be somewhat inaccessible for grasping and opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,437,634 to Hambleton discloses a device to hold open for loading a limp plastic bag having a pair of integral handles and a body portion terminating in a base. A pair of oppositely-disposed side wall members are upwardly projecting from either side of the base, and each of the wall members are provided with a pair of spaced protuberances affixed to the outer side thereof near the upper edge. Unfortunately, Hambleton makes no provision for holding a supply of bags in position for mounting on the device. Furthermore, the Hambleton device is constrained for movement and flexibility by not only the side walls, but also the back wall, and the bag handles must be carefully fitted over the sides and thence the protuberances before packing the bag. Finally, the Lieberman device would require undue care in removing the bag from the holder.
U.S Pat. No. 3,869,065 to Wang shows an apparatus for dispensing and holding carrying bags which includes a frame, a bag magazine for a supply of individual bags and a carrier means. Also a bag pick-up and holding means is supported reciprocably on the carrier means in a vicinity directly opposite the magazine rail means. The pickup means is operative to move substantially horizontally from an initial position to the foremost bag stored in the magazine and engage serrations or cut-outs in the outermost bag panel only. When the carrier means including the pick-up means returns to the initial position a bag is dispensed and held in open position suspended between the magazine rail means and the pick-up means. Wang, however, requires rather extensive modification of existing check-out lines and also necessitates careful unthreading for removal of the bags from the pick-up and holding means.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,316,353 to Suominen depicts a bag support and dispensing apparatus having support shafts for supporting a plurality of stacked bags by engaging each bag in the stack through aligned apertures in the front and rear walls of the bag. Pivotally mounted, extending hangers are positioned opposite the support shafts to engage a front wall of the top-most bag in the stack through an associated aperture in the front wall, so that the bag is supported in an open loading position by the support shaft at the rear wall and the extending hanger at the front wall. Suominen provides only two-point support for the bag and requires dexterous manual effort by the packer to remove the loaded bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,558 to Baker discloses a system for supporting a bundle of bags for access and loading adjacent a checkout area of a store which includes a first support member adapted to support a bundle of bags. The first support member includes an elongated substantially horizontally disposed member mounted beneath the countertop of a checkout area so that a substantial portion of the bundle of bags are out of view. A second support member adapted to support one handle of a bag is mounted at a spaced distance apart from the first support member so that the width of a bag in its open condition fits over the support members. Baker, like Suominen, provides only a two-point bag support system which requires care to unthread the apertures from the support members. Furthermore, Baker's system cannot be accommodated by all checkout areas because of the distance between counters.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,062,170 provides an effective holder for loading plastic bags having handle loops. In this patent, a user removes the topmost bag from a stack of bags supported at the rear of the holder, places each of the handle loops of the bag on a respective one of spaced arm portion tabs, loads the bag, and removes the loaded bag from the holder by lifting the handle loops from the tabs. U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,388 to Provan discloses a wire holder for facilitating loading of plastic bags which have integrally-forming carrying handles.
Furthermore, in commonly-assigned copending application Ser. No. 07/036,599 filed 4-10-87 (the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference) a total packing environment has been provided in which a number of bags are simultaneously available to the packer as well as a scheme for holding a stack of bags with a detachable connection maximally accessible at all times to the packer. This system is especially useful in combination with front-side-free thermoplatic bags such as those disclosed and claimed in commonly-assigned co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 925,752 filed Oct. 30, 1986, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
In all the systems however, the packer is required to manually grasp the front of the bag, and in one form or another open the bag and position it on some support element in order to commence loading. This effort requires time and manual dexterity by the individual packers. Thus, it has inherent drawbacks.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to eliminate the necessity for a packer to manually grasp the side of the bag and position it over appropriate support elements prior to loading the bag with individual items.
Other and further objects will be made known as the invention is described hereinbelow.